Method and device for providing video, data and voice to end user devices

ABSTRACT

Method and system for providing data, video and voice to a group of end user devices includes receiving end user device group quality of service rules and access network node bandwidth constraints; assigning multicast addresses and unicast addresses to end user devices of the group in response to the access node bandwidth constraints; and providing, in response to the end user device group quality of service rules and requests to receive services from the residential gateways, data, video and voice utilizing the assigned multicast addresses and unicast addresses. Further methods include receiving location information representative of distances between multiple end user devices and access nodes; defining end user bandwidth constraints in response to the location information and in response to access node bandwidth constraints; and providing, in response to the end user bandwidth constraints and to requests to receive services from the end user devices, data, compressed video and voice.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a NONPROVISIONAL of, claims priority to andincorporates by reference U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/664,542entitled “Home grooming—multicast and unicast addresses”, filed Mar. 222005, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/764,852 entitled“Dynamic transmission for switched digital television and IPTV”, filedFeb. 3 2006; each of which are assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communication systems and methods andespecially to methods and systems for providing video, data and voice toend user devices.

BACKGROUND

Triple play networks (also referred to as broadband networks) aim toprovide video, data and voice to residential users. These networksusually include various routers, switches aggregators and the like thatare capable of transferring various types of information encapsulated inpackets or frames, but are not able to dynamically manipulate orcompress video streams.

A typical triple play network includes a super headend (SHE), multiplevideo headend offices and multiple video switching offices (alsoreferred to as central offices) that include access nodes (such asDigital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers—DSLAMs) that are connectedto multiple residential devices.

The access node can receive a certain amount of incoming bandwidth. Itsends, usually over pairs of twisted wires, information streams thatconveys data, video and voice.

The number of resident devices as well as the bandwidth requested byeach device has dramatically increased during the last few years.Applications such as high definition television require substantialbandwidth. A typical home may include multiple televisions, multiplecomputers and multiple high performance communication devices such asdigital phones and the like. In many homes these devices are connectedto the access network via a residential access gateway. The residentialaccess gateway can also be viewed as an end-user device.

The bandwidth that can be supplied to a certain residential accessgetaway is responsive to the distance between that gateway and betweenthe access node that can be located within the central office.

The bandwidth that is requested by a residential access gateway candramatically change from hour to hour and from day to day. In order tomaintain a profitable telecommunication services telecommunicationsuppliers usually design their network to support characteristicbandwidth consumption requirements, and not necessarily maximal andespecially unreasonable scenarios. The network design usually includesparameters such as the locations of the DSLAMs, the input bandwidth ofthe DSLAMs and the output bandwidth that can be output from the DSLAM(either aggregate bandwidth or bandwidth per end-user).

There is a growing need to provide efficient methods and devices forproviding video, data and voice to end user devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the invention a method for providing data,video and voice to a group of end user devices is provided. The methodincludes: receiving end user device group quality of service rules,access network node bandwidth constraints; assigning multicast addressesand unicast addresses to end user devices of the group in response toaccess node bandwidth constraints; and providing, in response to the enduser device group quality of service rules and to requests to receiveservices from the residential gateways, data, video and voice utilizingthe assigned multicast addresses and unicast addresses.

Conveniently, the method includes compressing at least one video streamprovided to at least one end user device.

Conveniently, the method includes allocating a fixed bandwidth to timesensitive traffic, and allocating remaining bandwidth to data and video.

Conveniently, the method includes providing targeted advertisements toend user devices that are associated with unicast addresses.

Conveniently, the method includes compressing video streams in responseto an amount of end-users that request to view the video streams.

Conveniently, the method includes compressing video streams in responseto video quality of service levels associated with multiple end-usersthat receive the video stream.

Conveniently, the method includes assigning multicast and unicastaddresses in response to end-user statistics.

Conveniently, the method includes further compressing one video streamprovided to an end user device by a higher compression ratio thananother video stream provided to that end user device.

Conveniently, the method includes enforcing quality of service rules byselectively compressing video streams.

Conveniently, the method includes assigning multicast addresses andunicast addresses to end user devices in response to their location.

According to an embodiment of the invention a method for providing data,video and voice to a group of end user devices is provided. The methodincludes: receiving location information representative of distancesbetween multiple end user devices and access nodes; defining end userbandwidth constraints in response to the location information and inresponse to access node bandwidth constraints; and providing, inresponse to the end user bandwidth constraints and to requests toreceive services from the end user devices, data, compressed video andvoice.

According to an embodiment of the invention a system for providing data,video and voice to a group of end user devices is provided. The systemincludes a management entity, a video aware unit and a data aware unit.The video aware unit is connected to the data aware unit. The managementunit is accessible to at least one out of the data aware unit and thevideo aware unit. The system is adapted to receive end user device groupquality of service rules, and access network node bandwidth constraints.The management entity is adapted to assign multicast addresses andunicast addresses to end user devices of the group in response to accessnode bandwidth constraints. At least one out of the data aware unit andthe video aware unit is adapted to provide, in response to the end userdevice group quality of service rules and to requests to receiveservices from the residential gateways, data, video and voice utilizingthe assigned multicast addresses and unicast addresses.

It is noted that the video aware unit and the data aware unit cancoordinate in order to provide, in response to the end user device groupquality of service rules and to requests to receive services from theresidential gateways, data, video and voice utilizing the assignedmulticast addresses and unicast addresses.

According to an embodiment of the invention a system for providing data,video and voice to a group of end user devices is provided. The systemincludes a management entity, a video aware unit and a data aware unit.The video aware unit is connected to the data aware unit. The managementunit is accessible to at least one out of the data aware unit and thevideo aware unit. The system is adapted to receive location informationrepresentative of distances between multiple end user devices and accessnodes. The system is adapted to define compression levels of videoprograms to be provided to the end user devices in response to thelocation information and in response to access node bandwidthconstraints. The system is adapted to provide, in response to thecompression levels and to requests to receive services from the end userdevices, data, compressed video and voice. It is noted that thecompression of video streams is implemented by the video aware unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully fromthe following detailed description taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system and its environment, according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a system and its environment, according to anotherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a system and its environment, according to a furtherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a method according to an embodiment of the invention;and

FIG. 5 illustrates a method according to another embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and device are provided. The method and device are located inan access node such as a central office and can compress the video(perform rata shaping), on an end-user device (usually on a residentialaccess gateway) basis, such as to prevent the end-users from exceedingaccess bandwidth.

According to another embodiment of the invention streams can be providedto end user devices using multicast addresses or unicast addresses.Streams that are conveyed over a multicast stream can be duplicated bythe DSLAM and sent to multiple end-user devices. Using unicast addressis more bandwidth consuming but facilitates targeted advertisements. Onthe other hand the bandwidth of the limited bandwidth connection thatleads to the DSLAM does not enable to send a unicast program to eachresidential access gateway, especially if multiple end-users requestservice concurrently.

Conveniently, some end-users will receive programs over unicast streamswhile other end-users will receive programs over multicast streams.

According to an embodiment of the invention the bandwidth of videosteams can be compressed according to the number of users that view theprogram, the bandwidth limitation of the DSLAM and the bandwidthlimitation imposed on the end user devices. It is noted that thiscompression can simplify the management of the streams provided tomultiple end-users.

According to yet a further embodiment of the invention video, data andvoice quality of service levels can be imposed. Conveniently, the videoquality of service level can be maintained by video-aware units whilevoice and/or data quality of service levels are maintained by data-awarecomponents.

According to an embodiment of the invention a video-aware unit canallocate a predefined bandwidth for voice applications (that are moredelay sensitive), and allocate the remaining bandwidth to video anddata. The bandwidth allocated to the video stream can be met bycompressing the video stream, and the video aware unit can compress thevideo stream.

According to an embodiment of the invention the video-aware unitreceives at least some of the quality of service-rules from thedata-aware unit and can impose all the quality of service rules.

According to another embodiment of the invention the allocation ofunicast and multicast addresses is responsive to the load on the DSLAM,the end-user profile and the like.

Conveniently, multicast addresses can be allocated to most end-users andunicast addresses are assigned to few end-users. The unicast addressescan be allocated statically or dynamically according to user statisticsor to actual usage.

An exemplary video-aware unit can be a Broadband Multimedia Router ofBigband Networks Inc. of Fremont, Calif. A video-aware unit is describedin U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,141 of Oz et al., titled “Communicationmanagement system and method”, which is incorporated herein byreference.

A video-aware unit can receive media streams as well as media streamsthat are encapsulated in various types of packets or frames, andcompress the media stream. One compression method is known as MPEG,although other compression methods can be applied by the video-awareunit.

According to an embodiment of the invention the compression of videostreams increases the coverage area of the DSLAMs, as the distancebetween the DSLAM and the user is responsive to the overall bandwidthprovided to the user.

According to an embodiment of the invention the video aware unitcompresses programs in response to the distance of the user thatrequested the program and the DSLAM. Thus, more remote end user devicescan receive more compressed video streams. If a group of users view aprogram that is conveyed over a multicast address then the compressionlevel of that program can be responsive to the distance between theDSLAM and these group of users.

Conveniently, the allocation of multicast and unicast addresses can beresponsive to the location of the requesting end users. For example, aprogram can be conveyed over two separate addresses (two multicastaddresses, two unicast addresses, one multicast address and one unicastaddress) while one program is more compressed than the other. The morecompressed program can be sent to the remote end users. According to anembodiment of the invention more than two different addresses can beallocated for conveying multiple versions of a program that differ fromeach other by their compression level.

FIG. 1 illustrates system 10 and its environment, according to anembodiment of the invention.

System 10 includes a management entity such as middleware 40, avideo-aware unit such as broadband multimedia router 14 and a data awareunit such as switch 16. The environment includes IP edge router 12,switch 16′, DSLAMs 20 and home residential access gateways 30. It isnoted that for simplicity of explanation only few DSLAMS 20, fewswitches and few home residential access gateways are shown and alsothat for simplicity of explanation only some DSLAMs are illustrated asbeing connected to residential access gateways. It is noted that usuallya very large number of residential access gateways exist.

IP edge router 12 receives multicast and unicast streams from varioussources. These sources can include video sources, data sources and voicesources that are connected to an access network, a core network, anaggregation network or to a distribution network.

IP edge router 12 is connected to broadband multimedia router 14 and toswitches 16 and 16′. It is noted that the number of switches can exceedtwo. Each switch out of switches 16 and 16′ is connected to multipleDSLAMs 20 and 20′. Switch 16 can enforce data and voice quality ofservice rules, but is not able to compress video. Such a switch can bethe Alcatel™ 7450 ESS Ethernet service switch that is capable ofenforcing quality of service rules but without compressing video.

The IP edge router 12 can be the Alcatel™ 750 ESS service router that iscapable of supporting hierarchical service based quality of service,without compressing video.

Middleware 40 allocates multicast addresses and unicast addresses. Itcan be installed in various locations, such as the central office, videoheadend offices and the like. Multicast addresses can be assigned toprograms and the set top boxes within houses 40 are informed about thesemulticast addresses (or only a multicast address of a requested program)such that they can request to receive a program by sending a “join”message. These set top boxes can switch to another program to otherwisestop receiving that program by sending a “leave” request.

IP edge router 16 can receive multicast and unicast streams and sendthem to broadband multimedia router 14. The IP edge router 16 can sendthe broadband multimedia router 14 quality of service rules, informationindicative of the services requested by the end-users and bandwidthlimitations of the DSLAM (or of the paths that lead to the DSLAM). Thebroadband multimedia router 14 can then selectively rate-shape(compress) the video streams in order to comply with video, data andvoice quality of service rules. According to another embodiment of theinvention the IP edge router 12 can indicate the available videobandwidth, the broadband multimedia router 14 can determine whether tocompress the video streams or not, and provide a compressed video streamas well as an estimate of the bandwidth of the compressed video streamto the IP edge router 12 that in turn will decide how to allocate theremaining bandwidth between the video or data applications.

Conveniently, the broadband multimedia router 14 performs videocompression on an end user device basis. Thus, every request to receivea service by a certain end user device is evaluated by the broadbandmultimedia router 14 in order to detect possible end user devicebandwidth overflow and even DSLAM bandwidth overflow.

Thus, for example, assuming that a request to receive a program arrivesfrom a certain end user device. This request is processed by thebroadband multimedia router 14 and optionally by the middleware 40. Themiddleware can determine whether to assign to that program a unicastaddress, to assign a multicast address, whether there is a need to altera previously assigned address to the program (for example altering theaddress from a unicast to a multicast address and vice verse), and thelike.

The broadband multimedia router 14 will evaluate how to process therequested program. For example, it will compare the bandwidthconstraints of the DSLAM connected to that end user device and thecurrent bandwidth of video, data and voice provided to that DSLAM todetermine the DSLAM available bandwidth. It will compare the bandwidthlimitations (usually related to quality of service level) of the enduser device to determine the available bandwidth to that end user deviceand in response to these two available bandwidth decide how to compress(if necessary) the requested program.

It is noted that if this program is already provided, over a multicaststream, to the DSLAM than the broadband multimedia router 14 can alsoexamine the state (requested bandwidth, quality of service rules)associated with other end user devices, in order to determine whether tocompress the program or not.

If, for example, a requested program is viewed by one or more end userdevices, is conveyed using a multicast address, a new end user devicerequests to view the program and does not have a enough bandwidth toreceive the program at its current version then the broadband multimediarouter 14 can perform at least one of the following: (i) compressanother program that is provided to the new end user device, (ii)temporarily reduce the bandwidth allocated for data and/or voice(without violating the quality of service levels associated with thatnew end user device), (iii) compress the requested program, or (iv)request from middleware 14 to allocate a unicast address over which theprogram will be provided to the new end user device and if the requestis granted compress the program that is provided over the unicastaddress.

According to an embodiment of the invention the broadband multimediarouter 14 can assign different compression priorities to unicastprograms and to multicast programs. The broadband multimedia router 14can then apply priority based compression schemes, such as but notlimited to the method illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,619 of Strasmanet al., titled “Method and system for comparison-based prioritized bitrate conversion”, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The compressed video streams are sent from the broadband multimediarouter 14 to the IP edge router 16. The multicast and unicast streamsthat convey video, compressed video, voice and data are distributed tothe end user devices over switches 16 and 16′, DSLAMs 20 and the twistedpair (or other wires or wireless networks) connected to the end userdevices.

FIG. 2 illustrates system 10′ and its environment, according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

System 10′ differs from system 10′ by the number of broadband multimediarouters and their location. Instead of providing a broadband multimediarouter per IP edge router 12, a broadband multimedia router is providedper switch. Thus, the number of broadband multimedia routers increasesbut the load per broadband access router is reduced.

In this scenario the data aware unit is the switch. The broadband accessrouters interact with switches 16 and 16′ instead of interacting withthe IP edge router 12.

FIG. 3 illustrates system 10″ and its environment, according to afurther embodiment of the invention.

System 10″ differs from system 10′ by the location of the broadbandmultimedia routers. Each broadband multimedia router is positionedbetween a switch and a DSLAM. Thus, the broadband multimedia routersprovide the various multicast and unicast streams to the DSLAMs.

It is noted that the data-aware unit and the video-aware unit can beintegrated or that at least some functionality of the data-aware unitcan be integrated within the video aware unit (and vise verse).

FIG. 4 illustrates a method 300 according to an embodiment of theinvention.

Method 300 for providing data, video and voice to a group of end userdevices starts by stage 320 of receiving end user device group qualityof service rules, access network node bandwidth constraints.

Stage 320 is followed by stage 340 of assigning multicast addresses andunicast addresses to end user devices of the group in response to accessnetwork node bandwidth constraints.

Conveniently, if fewer services are required at a given point in time bythe end-users connected to the access node more unicast streams can beallocated.

According to an embodiment of the invention the allocation of multicastand unicast addresses can be responsive to various parameters. Theseparameters can include the quality of service rules associated withdifferent end-users, the amount of services supported by each end userdevice, end-user viewing patterns, end-user profile (for example socioeconomic profile), the number of end-users that view the program, andthe like.

According to an embodiment of the invention the allocation is responsiveto the location of end-users from the DSLAMs. As mentioned abovedifferent compressed versions of a program can be conveyed by usingmultiple different addresses. Conveniently more compressed programs areprovided to remote end users.

Stage 340 is followed by stage 360 of providing, in response to the enduser device group quality of service rules and to requests to receiveservices from the residential gateways, data, video and voice utilizingthe assigned multicast addresses and unicast addresses.

According to an embodiment of the invention stage 360 includesgenerating streams in response to quality of service rules and requeststo receive services (data, video, voice) from the end user devices. Thegenerated streams are then transmitted from the access node towards theend user devices.

Conveniently, stage 360 includes compressing at least one video streamprovided to at least one end user device. Conveniently, stage 360includes allocating a fixed bandwidth to time sensitive traffic (such asvoice), and allocating remaining bandwidth to data and video. This canrelax the response time of the video-aware unit, especially as voicetraffic is very delay sensitive and the video compression is timeconsuming and also can achieve better results when making compressiondecisions over longer periods. These longer periods can enable thevideo-aware unit to better evaluate which video stream to compress andhow to compress, especially given the bursty/statistical nature of videostreams.

According to an embodiment of the invention stage 360 includes providingtargeted advertisements to end user devices that are associated withunicast addresses. These targeted advertisements can be provided by alocal content provider connected to the central office, but this is notnecessarily so.

Conveniently, stage 360 includes compressing video streams in responseto an amount of end-users that request to view the video streams. Thusif many end-users request to see the same program it can be compressed,thus simplifying the enforcements of the quality of service rules.

Conveniently, stage 360 includes compressing video streams in responseto video quality of service levels associated with multiple end-usersthat receive the video stream. If there are many end-users an aggregatequality of service score can be defined. The score can reflect theaverage quality of service level, the standard deviation of the qualityof service level, the maximal quality of service level, the minimalquality of service level or other statistical expressions that canrepresent the distribution of quality of service levels among theviewers of that program.

It is noted that a single end user device can receive multiple programsconcurrently. Conveniently the compression levels of the programs candiffer from each other, or can be the same.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 400 according to an embodiment of theinvention.

Method 400 starts by stage 410 of receiving location informationrepresentative of distances between multiple end user devices and accessnodes.

Stage 410 is followed by stage 420 of defining end user bandwidthconstraints in response to the location information and in response toaccess node bandwidth constraints. These end user bandwidth constraintsand additional factors (such as bandwidth of requested services) candetermine the video compression levels. Conveniently, the end userbandwidth reduces as the distance between the access node to the enduser device increases.

Stage 420 is followed by stage 430 of assigning multicast and unicastaddresses to streams that convey the voice, data and compressed videos.It is noted that stage 430 can be replaced by a stage of receivingmulticast and unicast address allocation.

Stage 430 is followed by stage 440 of receiving end user device groupquality of service rules, and wherein the providing is furtherresponsive to the end user device group quality of service rules.

Stage 440 is followed by stage 450 of providing, in response to the enduser bandwidth constraints and to requests to receive services from theend user devices, data, compressed video and voice. Stage 450conveniently includes compressing the video streams.

Variations, modifications, and other implementations of what isdescribed herein will occur to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

1. A method for providing data, video and voice to a group of end userdevices, the method comprising: receiving end user device group qualityof service rules and access network node bandwidth constraints;assigning multicast addresses and unicast addresses to end user devicesof the group in response to the access node bandwidth constraints; andproviding, in response to the end user device group quality of servicerules and to requests to receive services from residential gateways,data, video and voice utilizing the assigned multicast addresses andunicast addresses.
 2. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising compressing at least one video stream provided to at leastone end user device.
 3. The method according to claim 2, furthercomprising allocating a fixed bandwidth to time sensitive traffic, andallocating remaining bandwidth to data and video.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein providing data, video and voice comprisesproviding targeted advertisements to those of the end user devices thatare associated with unicast addresses.
 5. The method according to claim1, further comprising compressing video streams in response to a numberof the end-user devices that request viewing of the video streams. 6.The method according to claim 1, further comprising compressing videostreams in response to video quality of service levels associated withmultiple ones of the end user devices that receive the video streams. 7.The method according to claim 1, further comprising assigning themulticast and unicast addresses in response to end user devicestatistics.
 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprisingcompressing one video stream provided to a first one of the end userdevices by a higher compression ratio than another video stream providedto that first one of the end user devices.
 9. The method according toclaim 1, wherein providing data, video and voice comprises enforcingquality of service rules by selectively compressing video streams. 10.The method according to claim 1, further comprising assigning themulticast addresses and unicast addresses to the end user devices inresponse to locations of the end user devices.
 11. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein at least one of the end user devices is aresidential access gateway.
 12. A method for providing data, video andvoice to a group of end user devices, the method comprising: receivinglocation information representative of distances between multiple enduser devices and access nodes; defining end user bandwidth constraintsin response to the location information and in response to access nodebandwidth constraints; and providing, in response to the end userbandwidth constraints and to requests to receive services from the enduser devices, data, compressed video and voice.
 13. The method accordingto claim 12, further comprising assigning multicast and unicastaddresses to streams that convey the voice, data and compressed videos.14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising receiving enduser device group quality of service rules, and wherein providing thedata, compressed video and voice is further responsive to the end userdevice group quality of service rules.
 15. A system adapted to receiveend user device group quality of service rules and access network nodebandwidth constraints, the system comprising a video aware unit coupledto a data aware unit and a management entity accessible to at least oneof the data aware unit and adapted to assign multicast addresses andunicast addresses to a group of end user devices in response to theaccess node bandwidth constraints, wherein the data aware unit and thevideo aware unit are adapted to provide, in response to the quality ofservice rules for the group of end user devices and to requests toreceive services from residential gateways, data, video and voiceutilizing the assigned multicast addresses and unicast addresses. 16.The system according to claim 15, wherein the video aware unit isadapted to compress at least one video stream provided to at least oneof the end user devices.
 17. The system according to claim 15, whereinthe system is further adapted to allocate a fixed bandwidth to timesensitive traffic, and to allocate remaining bandwidth to data andvideo.
 18. The system according to claim 15, wherein the system isfurther adapted to provide targeted advertisements to those of the enduser devices that receive programs over unicast addresses.
 19. Thesystem according to claim 15, wherein the video aware unit is adapted tocompress video streams in response to a number of the end-user devicesthat request to view the video streams.
 20. The system according toclaim 15, wherein the system is further adapted to compress a program inresponse to a location of a recipient of the program.